MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

6/7 Life in the big leagues

You all know about the injuries and that the Cubs entered Tuesday’s game riding a seven-game losing streak. Has all the time in the Minor Leagues with the endless roster turnover prepped Mike Quade for the many lineup/roster changes he’s had to deal with?

“The turnover is fine and the kids’ energy is great,” Quade said. “It’s the talent level. That’s the toughest thing. The kids are giving you their heart and soul and we’re not having success. You keep telling them to keep working, their time will come. Maybe it’s months from now, weeks from now, who knows? There’s no time line.

“The difference is when this happens in the Minor Leagues, you run people out there and play your games and do what you do, and if you go through a tough streak, it’s no fun but it’s the Minor Leagues,” he said. “This is the big leagues. “I keep thinking about how much sweeter things will be when they get better, and they will get better.”

– Carrie Muskat

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i am no baseball expert, but i have played team sports all my life and coached a few in my adulthood. it really isn’t too difficult unless you make it that way as a player and/or manager. the coaches job is to inspire the team to play to and even beyond their potential. the players job is to work smart, not just hard, and inspire teammates especially w/ exemplary play but also sometimes w/ words. encouraging words, not demeaning words. any team could win it all, it is a matter of which team is led to believe they can, then it plays itself out. the cubs have become a team uninspired and very difficult for a fan to watch. step up one by one and inspire, win games w/ imagination and smart work ethics. stay focused on the game. play each series like a playoff series, to win. one game at a time. seems difficult at first but the more these principles are applied to the game the easier it becomes. seems easy at first to not apply these principles, but the more they are not applied the more difficult it becomes. play ball, don’t just show up to work to do it without intention. that is simply a wheel spinning in an empty motion. less than 3 yrs ago the cubs won 97 games. i wonder what it is, the root of the problem that has the team where they are now. always hopeful as a fan, but it is getting difficult to be that.

I love my Cubbies to Death…and I know we have be struggling with injuries but it’s not the time to evaluate the rookies. That’s what spring training and the minor league is for. I know the kids mostly my age are giving 100% but until we get our full roster back, its hard to root for a team that you feel should be back down in Iowa or Tennessee. I mean I giving up on our chances right now and is looking only towards the all star break and trade deadline for the team to finally make a turn around but it’s gonna take some great moves to get the fire back in this squad. I think it’s time to move Fukudome to give room to Tyler Colvin and it should be the time to evaulate protential first basemen if Pena is not the answer. But pitching has killed us all season and it’s time for some rotation movement. James Russell is not a starter nor should he ever be one and Doug Davis has to go. I still can’t believe we passed up on players like Kevin Millwood and Ben Sheets to pick up Doug Davis. I don’t blame Quade, he doing the best he can with what he’s got but Jim Henry on the other hand needs to step up as general manager and make some great deals.

First, Pena is not the answer, how can there be an “if” anymore? Pena is exactly what we are seeing, an overated player that no oponent fears when at the plate. Second THIS SEASON is exactly the right time to evaluate the kids if not to get them major league experience yet Quade sticks with the likes of DeWitt and Pena and Fukodome…three players that will not be a factor AT ALL next season and even DeWitt may not make the team next season. Third, BLAME Quade! (see above) Quade is the only man between the bumbling Hendry and us fans and needs to take a stand and turn what will assuredly be a losing season into an evaluating season for the sake of the team HE HIMSELF (unless fired?!?!?!) will be managing next season.

Sorry Melvin I don’t agree with you on Colvin… he is o for his last 31… with an overall batting average of .098 or something like that… Colvin needs to be sent down to AA to get his confidence and stroke back then maybe brought back up… I do agree that Davis, Grabow, Russell, and others have hurt us more then they have helped. I would like to see Brett Jackson brought up to man CF and move Byrd to a corner spot. Its time to see what this kid can do before the All Star break so we know what/who we can trade… If he pans out we could trade Byrd and Fuke… if he isn’t ready we keep Byrd for next year and fill in some of the other holes

Petrey, I agree but trading Fuke is insignifcant at this point. Unfortunaltey I think he is just going to play out the string and waste a roster spot but at least it’s just for 4 more months and not 4 months and 3 years like Soriano. He is this team’s albatross. I would rather see Byrd in left field next season with Soriano on the bench (yeah right…I know!), the rookie Jackson in CF or right field and let another couple of kids battle of RF whether it’s Colvin or not. I was high on Colvin but think he is better of in AAA right now than in the bigs. No matter how you look at it this is quite the mess Hendry created. And if we start hearing about bringing Pujols over for a 6-10 contract so we can watch HIM age like we are watching Soriano age that would be pretty funny. Can you imaging Pujols WANTING to finish his career on a team that blew the majority of it’s payroll on just HIM? He would be playing with a bunch of rookies or worse…more Hendry reclaimation projects like Lopez, Davis etc. I’m not sure about you petrey or anybody else but I have ZERO confidence in Hendry turning this team around. We really do need somebody with a more insightful approach to assembling both major league and minor league rosters and choosing better field managers which would lead to better coaches. Hendry picked Jarabmillo right?
More BIG BUCKS for the “elite” batting instructor that was supposed to turn around Soriano. It appears Jaramillo’s golden touch has worn off by the look of Pena, Soriano, Soto….he certanily doesn’t seem to be of much help to Colvin. Which means it comes down to TALENT, you’re a good hitter or not. We should have spent Jaramillo’s money on new uniforms so the color blue of the jersey would actually match the darker blue caps and helmets.

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